The analysis of retail transaction data can help identify losses caused at the point of sale (PoS) by cashiers.There are many aspects of running a successful business, but one of the most important things to consider is taking advantage of POS reports.
Retail POS (point of sale data) is the “king” of category management data. Are you maximizing the use of this important data source?
Retailer Scanned point of sale data and Retailer Measurement data from 3rd parties like Nielsen and IRI (key account data) are derived from scanned point of sale data. Together, these 2 variations of POS data are the primary data sources with which we do category management work.
These data sources provide a clear picture of sales, movement and tactical performance. They also give a real-time view of category performance and trends. Catman, sales and marketing professionals should have strong competencies with POS data, well beyond pulling and reading POS data.
Retailer Scanned sales contain a wealth of information, but the level of depth, types of reports and front-end systems are all driven by the Retailer. In order to have a strong, broad-based understanding of Retailer POS data, it’s important to focus on the key deliverables of the data. Extensive analytics can be done with this data.
What is POS software? POS stands for “Point-Of-Sale”, and POS software is what brick-and-mortar stores and eCommerce stores use to conduct sales. Think of it as your more advanced cash register combined with a computer (or even mobile computing device such as a tablet) where cashiers input the ordered products, tally the cost, and consummate the financial transaction. It can integrate other systems and software, such as accounting apps or eCommerce platforms, or connect with networks and databases to expand your business’ operational flexibility and capability.
The definition of POS software revolves around its main purpose – to process sales. However, point-of-sale software does so much more than that. Full-featured POS systems can handle inventory tracking, analytics, sales monitoring and reporting, customer data management, employee management, mobile connectivity, and robust integrations. POS software also comes in a range of options from simple processors to complex cloud systems to meet the requirements of various businesses regardless of type (physical or online) and size (small, medium or large enterprises).
There are three general classifications of point-of-sale software. These systems include:
What is POS software? POS stands for “Point-Of-Sale”, and POS software is what brick-and-mortar stores and eCommerce stores use to conduct sales. Think of it as your more advanced cash register combined with a computer (or even mobile computing device such as a tablet) where cashiers input the ordered products, tally the cost, and consummate the financial transaction. It can integrate other systems and software, such as accounting apps or eCommerce platforms, or connect with networks and databases to expand your business’ operational flexibility and capability.
The definition of POS software revolves around its main purpose – to process sales. However, point-of-sale software does so much more than that. Full-featured POS systems can handle inventory tracking, analytics, sales monitoring and reporting, customer data management, employee management, mobile connectivity, and robust integrations. POS software also comes in a range of options from simple processors to complex cloud systems to meet the requirements of various businesses regardless of type (physical or online) and size (small, medium or large enterprises).
There are three general classifications of point-of-sale software. These systems include:
- Mobile POS. Basically used to manage and process payment but can also have other functions like inventory tracking. It is ideal for sole entrepreneurs and small businesses because of its simple setup, operation and affordability.
- Terminal POS. It can be both software and hardware based system that can carry add-on devices such as barcode scanners and cash drawers. It is the most commonly used system by businesses because of advanced functionality and reasonable prices.
- Cloud-Hosted POS. It is an online or web-based system you can use with your existing hardware (such as computer, tablet, and printer). It is suitable for businesses of any size especially startups because of the systems affordability, scalability and convenience.
5 Ways to Analyze Your Retail Scanned Sales / Point of Sale Data
We are going to examine 5 ways to analyze Retailer Scanned Sales data with a few examples of analytics. They include:
1.TREND DATA – to leverage time variations in POS data for different perspectives
Retailer scanned sales systems usually allow for flexible, customizable views of time periods. These can include latest 52-, 26-, 12- and 4-week, fiscal year and calendar-year-to-date time periods plus comparison vs a year ago. It can also include 4 weekly seasonality trend analyses, daily analyses and even hourly results.
It is important for Retailers to monitor results through effective corporate reports and scorecards. Make sure that you are looking at both shorter- and longer-term trends when looking at your business. Shorter-term trends can proactively help you to fix issues before they extend into longer-term trends.
2. OUT OF STOCKS AND IN-STOCKS - to determine stocking schedules at store level
Out of Stock (OOS) lost sales are probably one of the most difficult things to measure (click here for Out of Stocks complimentary download). Hourly sales data with significant gaps would be a strong indicator of OOS issues, as would a significantly underdeveloped market share combined with full distribution. Looking at hourly data with sales gaps illustrates the power of hourly data. If you were to only look at average units per day, you would not see a difference between weekday and weekend sales. You would likely plan shelf capacity to these numbers. However, looking at sales per hour identifies an OOS issue during what should be a peak time for sales.
3. SALES AND PROFIT ANALYSIS - to understand brand, segment, category, department, aisle and total store results
In addition to standard sales measures like $ sales, unit sales and profit, retailer scanned data also allows you to track Same Store, or Comp Store Sales. “Comp Store Sales” is a measurement of productivity in revenue that is used to compare sales of retail stores that have been open for a year or more. Historical sales data allows Retailers to compare this year’s sales in their store to the same period last year. These measures allow Retailers to gauge how effective their programs are at driving organic growth vs growth from new store expansion.
4. DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS – to track new items, product availability and product assortment
Tracking new items can be done easily and accurately by creating a report that tracks the percentage of stores selling an item. Here, distribution would only be recognized once the first sale is recorded.
The “% Stores with Sales” measure captures the percentage of stores that carry the item. An analysis like this gives a perspective on how quickly product is getting through the supply chain – from the warehouse, to the store’s receiving, then out from the backroom and onto the shelf. The flaw with measuring distribution this way is that if a product just isn’t selling, then it won’t be recorded. However, if a Retailer has a strategy of being first to market with hot new products, this will illustrate how well that strategy is being implemented through operations.
5. SHOPPER INSIGHT - to gain insights into Shopper behavior and shopping baskets
Basket analysis provides significant insight into the Shopper. Shopping baskets can be looked at in many different ways, and can be used to evaluate how well a retailer may be delivering against certain strategies. In the following example, a Retailer introduced a multiple purchase strategy – encouraging multiple purchase through “2 for” or “3 for” type incentives for consumers. They want to know if their strategy is successful based on this data.
By comparing the item quantity per basket for the current period when the new strategy was implemented, to the previous period, we can see if we are driving increased multiple purchases. This example shows a significant increase in the 2 and 3 item baskets, at 43 and 241% respectively, compared to the growth of total baskets at 15%.
Retailer scanned sales data can provide compelling insights. Because all categories are available all the way down to an item level, the analysis capabilities are unlimited! Scanned sales data allows for powerful, flexible analysis, including in-depth profit, promotion, pricing and assortment analysis, and shopping basket and loyalty analysis.
All retail businesses capture a vast amount of PoS data across their operations on a daily basis; this can be exploited to help improve business efficiency. The PCMS VISION Loss Prevention data mining solution uses a complex set of forensic analysis techniques to successfully detect – and prevent – losses occurring at point of sale.
Losses at the PoS fall into three main categories:
Analyzing sales data, employee sales and inventory performance are a make-or-break aspect of running a retail business.
As a retail business, knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are is key to making sure that you stay in business for years to come. Strengths or weaknesses could come in the form of items that are top selling, underselling, lost or damaged inventory, or employee over or underperformance. POS reports provide a breakdown into these areas of your retail business. Using the knowledge gained from reports, make informed business decisions based on what’s working and what isn’t. After those decisions are made, reevaluate them to ensure that those changes have been beneficial. Access to a point of sale system that offers robust reporting features is crucial to keeping track of this data.
While there are a wealth of POS reports available to retailers, there are three main categories of reporting that merchants should keep top of mind — store sales, transactions by employee, and inventory. Using the data from these core business areas empowers retailers with greater knowledge of sales volume trends, insight into how funds flow in and out of the business, and a comprehensive account of the supply of inventory items. Using these reports together provide in-depth analysis that allows a business to make necessary to improve gross margins and overall productivity.
Let’s review some of the key POS reports and how they can be used to impact the growth of your business.
The sales process is more than just the bartering of goods or services for cash. In retail, sales also include returns, discounts and the sale of liabilities such as gift cards. Quality point of sale terminals report on each; the sale of goods, cost of goods sold (COGS) quantity of returns, applied discounts.
Point of sale systems offer inventory reporting tools that catalog your business’ stock items. The data provided often includes the value of inventory items, how many items are in stock, and profit margins.
It is prudent for retailers to use inventory reports in conjunction with the other POS reports to understand the value of their inventory. Item prices and margins can be shifted based on top selling items and items that don’t sell as well. The cost of keeping items that you are unable to move adds up long term. Being able to identify underperforming products makes room for the introduction of new or better-selling items.
When choosing a point of sale system, you not only want to opt for a product that offers you the standard reporting metrics necessary to measure the success of your business, you also want to choose a product with intuitive backend features and simplified reporting.
Some of the data any standard POS product should be able to offer includes:
Sales
Top-selling/worst-selling items
Top customers
Sales activity by time-frame
Sales by employee/product/department/location
Returned items
Gross profits
Transaction tender (type)
Taxes
Tips and gratuities
Voided sales
Refunds
Liabilities (gift cards)
Discounts
Employee payouts
Employee
Hours worked
Shift reports
Sales by employee
Commissions by employee
Inventory
Inventory value report
Inventory reorder report
Real-time inventory tracking report
ShopKeep has a range of sales reports in BackOffice to analyze retail sales and cash flow. BackOffice displays sales reports with ten different variables to choose from. Each variable allows you to view sales data from contrasting aspects, including item, department, category, location, and even customer. Choose a report, and when retrieved, dive deeper into the specifics. The data retrieved by reports is customizable, so once that data is fetched, apply filters to simplify and find the exact data you are looking for. You can view bar charts, a table and filter additional details by showing or hiding columns to focus only on the details you are interested in seeing. This lets you see which areas of your business are doing well, and which have room for improvement.
To examine sales of staff members, the Sales by Employee report is the place to go. It includes a total sales count for each employee (As with all sales reports, filters can be applied to display specific employees), total sold amount, discounts applied, tips, and more. After an evaluation of staff sales, you can staff based on who and how many employees should be scheduled for a particular time.
There are several ways ShopKeep merchants track inventory. Let’s start with the basics, the Items List. The items list is where items are added to inventory, and also where quantities can be tracked. Item counts on the Items list are an up to date look at inventory stock totals. It is imperative that accurate stock totals entered here when adding new inventory, for stock levels to correctly calculated. The Inventory Value Report is also a vital resource. Use the report to view values of basic items, items with variants, raw goods and also see a total of all inventory items. It also displays the quantity on hand, cost and total value for each item, allowing you to quickly determine the cost of your unsold inventory at the end of an accounting period. This can help you make decisions about what inventory to keep in stock and if the cost of keeping the particular item is worth it. Go ahead and update reorder triggers for those popular, top-selling items to be added to the inventory reorder report.
Now that you understand how POS reports can add value to your business, contact us to learn how you can take advantage of ShopKeep’s robust reporting featur
All retail businesses capture a vast amount of PoS data across their operations on a daily basis; this can be exploited to help improve business efficiency. The PCMS VISION Loss Prevention data mining solution uses a complex set of forensic analysis techniques to successfully detect – and prevent – losses occurring at point of sale.
Losses at the PoS fall into three main categories:
- Incompetent cashiers who cause real and ‘paper’ loss by not understanding how to use the till correctly or the expected business processes
- Cashiers who understand the processes yet fail to comply
- Internal theft or PoS fraud, whereby the point of sale functionality is deliberately manipulated
Analyzing sales data, employee sales and inventory performance are a make-or-break aspect of running a retail business.
What is a Point of Sale Report?
Point of sale (POS) reports are reports created based on the data gathered by a point of sale system. Register data and activity is tracked at the point of sale terminal and that data is stored for future analysis via POS reports. The reports provide detailed information in a variety of formats to help retailers track revenue, analyze sales, evaluate employee performance, make informed inventory purchases, and monitor the overall health of their retail business.As a retail business, knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are is key to making sure that you stay in business for years to come. Strengths or weaknesses could come in the form of items that are top selling, underselling, lost or damaged inventory, or employee over or underperformance. POS reports provide a breakdown into these areas of your retail business. Using the knowledge gained from reports, make informed business decisions based on what’s working and what isn’t. After those decisions are made, reevaluate them to ensure that those changes have been beneficial. Access to a point of sale system that offers robust reporting features is crucial to keeping track of this data.
While there are a wealth of POS reports available to retailers, there are three main categories of reporting that merchants should keep top of mind — store sales, transactions by employee, and inventory. Using the data from these core business areas empowers retailers with greater knowledge of sales volume trends, insight into how funds flow in and out of the business, and a comprehensive account of the supply of inventory items. Using these reports together provide in-depth analysis that allows a business to make necessary to improve gross margins and overall productivity.
Let’s review some of the key POS reports and how they can be used to impact the growth of your business.
Simplifying Sales Reports with POS
We’ll start by dissecting how sales reporting works with a mobile point of sale system like ShopKeep.The sales process is more than just the bartering of goods or services for cash. In retail, sales also include returns, discounts and the sale of liabilities such as gift cards. Quality point of sale terminals report on each; the sale of goods, cost of goods sold (COGS) quantity of returns, applied discounts.
Track Employee Success with POS Reports
Effectively managing staffing levels can have a significant impact on the success of your business. Staff reports help you identify what’s selling and who’s selling it, allowing you to identify your top employees easily. POS staff reports not only help you measure staff productivity and, if necessary, calculate commissions, but you can also use hourly reports to determine your busiest hours so that you can staff accordingly. Additionally, a POS system like ShopKeep helps mitigate the risk of employee theft by keeping a record of each and every transaction, along with cash drawer adjustments such as pay ins and payouts.Maximizing Inventory Management with POS Reports
POS inventory reports provide retailers with stock level data, accounting for sold and unsold inventory items as well as changes in inventory such as items removed as display items or damaged goods. Improper inventory management can trigger profit losses and have a negative impact on cash flow. Therefore it’s imperative to establish an internal process for inventory management.Point of sale systems offer inventory reporting tools that catalog your business’ stock items. The data provided often includes the value of inventory items, how many items are in stock, and profit margins.
It is prudent for retailers to use inventory reports in conjunction with the other POS reports to understand the value of their inventory. Item prices and margins can be shifted based on top selling items and items that don’t sell as well. The cost of keeping items that you are unable to move adds up long term. Being able to identify underperforming products makes room for the introduction of new or better-selling items.
Not All POS Reports Are Created Equal
Beware of data overload! Many of us would like to think that the more data we have, the more empowered we are to make smarter business decisions, but too much of a good thing can actually turn out to be counterproductive. This is especially true if the data isn’t presented in a way that is easy to digest.When choosing a point of sale system, you not only want to opt for a product that offers you the standard reporting metrics necessary to measure the success of your business, you also want to choose a product with intuitive backend features and simplified reporting.
Some of the data any standard POS product should be able to offer includes:
Sales
Top-selling/worst-selling items
Top customers
Sales activity by time-frame
Sales by employee/product/department/location
Returned items
Gross profits
Transaction tender (type)
Taxes
Tips and gratuities
Voided sales
Refunds
Liabilities (gift cards)
Discounts
Employee payouts
Employee
Hours worked
Shift reports
Sales by employee
Commissions by employee
Inventory
Inventory value report
Inventory reorder report
Real-time inventory tracking report
Where ShopKeep comes in
ShopKeep offers a huge database of reporting information that provide insights into store sales, employee sales, and inventory performance. With ShopKeep’s point of sale system, reporting data is cloud based and your store data is kept in one place, the BackOffice.ShopKeep has a range of sales reports in BackOffice to analyze retail sales and cash flow. BackOffice displays sales reports with ten different variables to choose from. Each variable allows you to view sales data from contrasting aspects, including item, department, category, location, and even customer. Choose a report, and when retrieved, dive deeper into the specifics. The data retrieved by reports is customizable, so once that data is fetched, apply filters to simplify and find the exact data you are looking for. You can view bar charts, a table and filter additional details by showing or hiding columns to focus only on the details you are interested in seeing. This lets you see which areas of your business are doing well, and which have room for improvement.
To examine sales of staff members, the Sales by Employee report is the place to go. It includes a total sales count for each employee (As with all sales reports, filters can be applied to display specific employees), total sold amount, discounts applied, tips, and more. After an evaluation of staff sales, you can staff based on who and how many employees should be scheduled for a particular time.
There are several ways ShopKeep merchants track inventory. Let’s start with the basics, the Items List. The items list is where items are added to inventory, and also where quantities can be tracked. Item counts on the Items list are an up to date look at inventory stock totals. It is imperative that accurate stock totals entered here when adding new inventory, for stock levels to correctly calculated. The Inventory Value Report is also a vital resource. Use the report to view values of basic items, items with variants, raw goods and also see a total of all inventory items. It also displays the quantity on hand, cost and total value for each item, allowing you to quickly determine the cost of your unsold inventory at the end of an accounting period. This can help you make decisions about what inventory to keep in stock and if the cost of keeping the particular item is worth it. Go ahead and update reorder triggers for those popular, top-selling items to be added to the inventory reorder report.
Now that you understand how POS reports can add value to your business, contact us to learn how you can take advantage of ShopKeep’s robust reporting featur
No comments:
Post a Comment